New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Assertiveness Scale

I very much enjoy New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc especially from Marlborough. I really think that there could be an "Assertivenes" scale from 1-10. Cloudy Bay and Drylands would be maybe 8-9. Neudorf would be maybe 7. Ata Rangi and Craggy Range would around 4. Most of California would be 3 or less. What do you think ?

On this scale the Coopers Creek 2006 SB will rate about 12!

On this scale the Coopers Creek 2006 SB will rate about 12!

And where would we put Palliser Estate? IIRC, Michael Cooper MW called it "Marlborough SB in drag"

Mark Lipton

On this scale the Coopers Creek 2006 SB will rate about 12!

That's because it has just been released and the bracing acidity makes your hair stand on end.

Kim Crawford gets a "7".

Kim Crawford gets a "7".

I just was given a 2004 blind. I wrote on my TN rather low in acidity!!!! I guess in comparison with Arretxea Hegoxuri and Tokaji Esszencia (with 18g/l acidity), it was! Does anyone here have an idea of the "typical" (yes, yes, I know there is no such thing) range of acidity in g/l that NZ SB has? Maybe I am immune to acidity, but the samples I've tried recently haven't seemed to me to be all that excessive in acidity.

Hi Otto,
I record total acidity against the wines in my database (when I am able to glean that information) and the figure is all over the place. It is as low as 5.7 grams per litre in something like the barrel fermented Cloudy Bay Te Koko 2002 and as high as 9 grams per litre in Lake Hayes Sauvignon Blanc 2004. The 'average', however, seems to be in the 7's (7.4 to 7.6).

So many factors come into play such as location, vintage conditions, when picked during vintage and so on.

Sauvignon Blanc changes so rapidly in the bottle and as the wine gets older, the acidity, while still there, does not seem to be so aggressive. Even in that early release Coopers Creek 2006, the acidity will settle in 2-3 months time, and then it will rate about 5 on the aggressiveness scale.

Cheers,
Sue

Thanks Sue for the great info! Funny thing about the grape is that it has all the components that I think I would like, but I've not yet found one example which I truly do like. But I keep trying. Maybe the next that I should try is a just released NZ SB to see if the acids are screechy enough, LOL!!